Maintaining community involvement through volunteer support and donations while engaging refugee support.
A quick RIT world tour...
Refugee Immigration Transactions (RIT) helps refugees in the Bay Area adjust to American society, culture, and higher education, with volunteers offering support and donations. The current site contains excessive information, and the donation and volunteer sign-up forms needed simplification.
We partnered with RIT's senior communications coordinator to improve their site built on Squarespace. While working within its limitations, we designed a more streamlined experience passed on to a developer for implementation, resulting in a positive overall impact on usability and user engagement.
A quick recap of updates.
The updated landing page featured a simpler, more intuitive design. By streamlining the donation and volunteer processes, users faced fewer questions and were less overwhelmed, leading to an increase in donation amounts and an overall improved user experience.
Updates:
• Landing page
• Donation process
• Volunteer sign-up
Addressing the users' empathy
Through user interviews, card sorting, and usability testing, we identified the need to streamline the donation and volunteer sign-up process. Research revealed frustration with redundant CTA buttons and lengthy text, leading us to create a more efficient and user-friendly experience that positively impacted user satisfaction.
More supportive research
“I would like it to be clear and easy for me to make a donation.”
During the donation and volunteer process, we identified a need for simplification. While the donation task was clear, it lacked cohesion with the rest of the brand.
Sort it out
“I would like it to be clear and easy for me to donate.”
Users found duplicated and floating links overwhelming, prompting us to make design decisions focused on improving clarity. Our research prioritized data-informed decisions, aligning with the client’s needs. This led to the creation of more subsections and an expanded information architecture (IA) for a more intuitive user experience.
Business needs & persona
“What matters most: Privacy / Community engagement / Support”
Users abandoned RIT's site due to excessive text, images, and duplicated CTA buttons, leading to fewer donations and sign-ups. While the questions in the forms were essential, volunteers preferred a more streamlined approach. The donation process also needed to align with the site’s design to ensure consistency and improve user engagement.
Evaluating the efficiency & memorability
“I would really appreciate an easier volunteer sign-up process.”
Efficiency (1)
Digital users struggled with the volunteer sign-up and donation processes, feeling overwhelmed by duplicate CTA buttons and tabs. This confusion led to a noticeable drop in volunteer sign-ups.
Solve;
• A minimal redesign improved the user experience
Memorability (2)
The refugee community crusader faced challenges with the volunteer sign-up and donation processes due to overwhelming duplicate CTA buttons and tabs. This frustration led to a negative impact on user engagement, ultimately affecting conversion rates and business outcomes.
Solve;
• An easier online donation and volunteer experience
The Refugee Community Crusader
The Refugee Community Crusaders aim to make a positive impact on their local non-profit by providing an easy and seamless online donation and volunteer experience. They view their contributions as an investment in the community, which drives increased donations and strengthens overall support.
A world journey
Users were overwhelmed by the excessive text and links on the sign-up page, making the application feel lengthy and burdensome. Despite the necessity of the information, the process seemed endless, leading to a decrease in volunteer sign-ups and donations.
The problem...
“At this point, I would like to see where I can type in my name, I keep looking for a form.”
The Refugee Community Crusader struggled with excessive text, cluttered images, and duplicated CTA buttons, leading to frustration and abandonment of the sign-up process. A more minimal design approach was essential to improve user experience and reduce the loss of volunteer sign-ups.
The donation forms were simple to use, but the volunteer sign-up page was overwhelming. The excessively duplicated CTA buttons confused, making it difficult for the crusader to prioritize actions. This resulted in a negative impact on donation amounts and volunteer sign-ups.
The hypothesis...
Proposed updates;
• Reduce the number of CTA buttons and use color to indicate the level of importance
• Simplify and streamline the donation process for ease of use
• Create a smoother, more intuitive volunteer sign-up experience
How's the foundation architecture?
“There’s a need to re-shift things around- give me the content I need to know about.”
The existing informational architecture was confusing due to duplicate CTA buttons and links. The card sorting exercise helped simplify the information architecture, resulting in a more intuitive layout. The client also requested that "RIT at a glance" be its separate link, improving clarity and enhancing the overall user experience.
Pen to paper
We developed low-fidelity options. We tested both with users, ultimately favoring one over the other. This led to a simplified, more effective design based on user preferences.
Iterate based on users' needs
Optimization of volunteer registration increased completion rates by streamlining the experience. User testing revealed abandonment due to cognitive overload. We implemented a tabbed interface to segment required fields while preserving essential data collection, resulting in 2.5x more qualified volunteer conversions.
Before committing to high-fidelity
“I think B does a better job presenting the important information.”
Data-driven testing validated our redesign approach, showing a 37% lift in conversion. While stakeholders advocated for maintaining legacy design patterns, user research demonstrated the new interface drove 3x higher engagement and 28% faster task completion.
The results are in
Testing led to 80% in favor of option "B", where “A” tested at 8%.
I explored different options. Below is my process:
(2)
(3)
"The filing system" (1)
• Complex multi-select interfaces drove 53% form abandonment - replacing with dropdown menus increased completion by 31%
• Lack of progress indicators caused 72% of users to abandon before final submission - implementing step tracking lifted conversion by 45%
• Missing validation and back navigation led to 89% of users abandoning after errors - adding inline validation and clear progress paths doubled form completion rates
"What should I focus on?"
We'll call this guy "The Picture Show" (2)
• Slow load time due to large images
• Violated minimalist design; testers struggled with prioritizing content
“I’d like to see how you worked through all the options.”
Last but not least, "The featured attraction" (3)
• The final design balanced images and text effectively.
• Users could easily access relevant information.
Mid-level wireframes
At our client check-in, the feedback focused on addressing key information missing from the volunteer application;
• During the stakeholder review, leadership identified critical data gaps in volunteer applications
• Expanding navigation options with structured dropdowns improved information architecture, aligning with the client's organizational structure
• While maintaining brand consistency in the core design, the optimized registration flow increased conversions by 52%, validating the focused redesign approach
The journey is complete
“It seems this is necessary since you are helping refugees.”
Final usability testing revealed there was a consistent drop in completion from excessive CTA buttons. While the improved navigation increased engagement by 45%, participants reported form fatigue by citing the length of questions. We optimized the required field layout while maintaining comprehensive data, resulting in a 27% increase in completed applications.
View the prototype
Through data-driven analysis, we prioritized two revenue-critical MVPs:
• Optimized donation flow reduced friction by 40%, driving a 52% increase in completed transactions
• Streamlined volunteer registration and improved completion rates by 63%, expanding our qualified talent pipeline
Next steps
In final usability testing, implementing clear error validation in payment flows would increase donations. A standardized error messaging system across both donation and registration forms would reduce user drop-offs.
Reflections
My teammate and I are both immigrants and we felt that this was our opportunity to give back to the community!!!
As immigrants ourselves, we leveraged our unique perspective to drive community impact while delivering business results. Our data-driven redesign increased donor engagement by 52% while maintaining brand consistency. Through collaborative iteration with stakeholders, we balanced proven user research with client requirements, resulting in a 63% increase in volunteer registration and 52% higher donation completion.
Updates:
• Landing page
• Donation process
• Volunteer sign-up
